A HAND-HELD CORE SAMPLER FOR PLASTIC BENTHIC SEDIMENTS

A hand-held benthic sediment core sampler useful in water to diving de pth is described. The sampler is based on the previous design of Mille r and Bingham (1987) but incorporates two important modifications. The first prevents detachment and possible loss of the piston's sealing p lug. The second is a support frame which enables the corer to sample p lastic sediments without compressing and distorting the core. The devi ce was used successfully to take cores from the bottom of Lake Welling ton, Gippsland, Victoria in sediment ranging from plastic silt/clay to compressed coarse sand. It is proposed that the corer can be modified to have a replaceable barrel for use in situations where extrusion of the sediment sample from the barrel in the field is problematic.